RADLER CHASTENED, BLACK REMAINS DEFIANT
Radler ‘ clearly demonstrated a recognition and affirmative acceptance for his criminal conduct.’ He has provided ‘ complete information to the government concerning his own involvement in the offense’ — David Radler’s plea agreement ANA L Y S I S Forme
Chief Business Correspondent CHICAGO •
After a “perfect” partnership of more than three decades spent finishing each other’s sentences, David Radler and Conrad Black are now speaking a different language.
As Radler stood chastened before a U.S. federal judge in Chicago yesterday, his were words of guilt, contrition and penance. Looking slightly rumpled in a light suit jacket, dark slacks and red tie, he appeared almost sheepish as he waived his rights and pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud. He needed a drink at dinner and half a sleeping pill to get him through the night before his public he told Judge Amy St. Eve.
Soon after, his Gucci shoes padded their way to the ninth floor of the federal court building, where he was to be fingerprinted and photographed, and where a rogue’s gallery of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives hung in the foyer.
Radler, the 63-year-old multimillionaire and former publisher of the was on his way to redemption. In the words of his lawyer, the plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois is the “first step in making amends for what has taken place.”
In Toronto, his former partner remains defiant. Lord Black has steadfastly maintained his innocence and sources say he has repeatedly refused to bargain his way out of the threat of legal troubles the way Radler did.
In fact, Lord Black is said to find the whole act of contrition by Radler a bit distasteful. Not because of the guilty plea; but that Radler broke the law in the first place, and then only admitted it two years after proclaiming innocence.
So now, Radler, as state snitch, is cast as the good guy to Lord Black’s seemingly bad guy.
To wit, while Radler spent the last few months extending olive branches to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the new crop of Hollinger International Inc. directors who sued him and Lord Black for US$425-million, his former confrere has gone out and hired one of the best U.S. law firms money can buy.
Lord Black is not negotiating, nor is he said to be quaking in his brogues. He has not spoken to Radler in two months and sources say he has expressed concern to his closest advisors that Radler may be intimidated enough to implicate him in an attempt to link him to the illegal scheme.
His lawyers are still not convinced that Radler has delivered Lord Black on a platter to federal prosecutors.
Like many others, Lord Black’s camp hasn’t figured out exactly how much Radler is “co-operating” and what that actually means.
Stephen Jarislowsky, who sat on boards of Hollinger with Lord Black and Radler, figures U. S. Justice department officials agreed to a “light” sentence because they “must expect great things from him.”
Radler’s 32-page plea agreement doesn’t provide much of a blueprint, except for the occasional reference to the “chairman” in the sections of the plea agreement that outline the allegedly fraudulent activity. Radler is said to have “clearly demonstrated a recognition and affirmative acceptance of personal responsibility for his criminal conduct.” And that he has provided “evidence” and “ complete information to the government concerning his own involvement in the offense” in a “ timely” manner.
Apparently, the U. S. government is grateful that in doing so and entering a plea of guilty, Radler allowed them to avoid a costly and time-consuming trial and allowed the Justice department to “allocate its resources efficiently … ”
For that, Radler snared a deal that includes a 29-month jail sentence on one count of fraud, even though sentencing guidelines in the United States say he should have received 57 to 71 months in jail for his crime. The other six counts were dropped. He agreed to a fine of US$250,000, and the father of two adult children is allowed to stay a free man until the District Attorney’s office in Illinois finishes up its investigation and completes trials that may arise out of the probe. Had Radler fought the seven-count indictment, he faced a maximum five years in U.S. federal prison for each count, and a US$ 250,000 fine for each.
More importantly, Radler can apply to serve his prison term in Canada and the U.S. Justice department won’t lift a finger to stop him. If he were to start serving his sentence in the United States, it would likely be a Martha Stewartlike federal farm, not Attica. In all, it would take about 12 months to process his application to move to Canada, and if successful, he’d have one year under his belt.
Once in Canada, his term would be treated like a Canadian sentence, which would automatically entitle him to early release because the mandatory minimum is six months or one-sixth of the sentence, whichever is greater, and one-third of the sentence to be eligible for full parole. In the United States, prisoners are required to serve 85% of their sentences for full parole.
Curiously, Radler appears to have escaped relatively unscathed compared to the former second- incommand executives at Tyco and Worldcom, who were recently convicted of corporate malfeasance and sentenced to between five and eight years in U. S. federal prisons.
In the absence of anything substantive, that much should make his former chief a little comfortable.
Financial Post
ttedesco@ nationalpost. com